Canadians who make a habit of selling goods on eBay should brace themselves for some attention from the tax department.

CBC News

The Canada Revenue Agency has won the rights to examine files of the auction site's so-called "power sellers" - those Canadians who generate at least $1,000 US a month in billings from their online sales. The tax department wants to know if these big sellers are declaring their eBay income.

A recent Federal Court of Canada decision affirms an order last year that requires eBay Canada to provide tax officials with the full account information on these sellers, including their names, user IDs, mainling addresses, billing addresses, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses.

The order applies to any Canadian individual or business who had power seller status in Canada at any time during 2004 and 2005. EBay Canada lawyers had argued that the computers that housed the information were located in California. But under questioning, eBay lawyers acknowledged that the information was easily accessible in Canada by its Canadian operation.

"The reality is that the information is readily and instantaneously availabe to those within the group of eBay entities in a variety of places," wrote Mr. Justice Roger Hughes of the Federal Court of Canada. "It is irrelevant where the electronically-stored information is located or who as among those entities, if any, by agreement or otherwise asserts 'ownership' of the information."

Mr. Justice Huges noted that the Income Tax Act permits the Canada Revenue Agency to carry out somewhat of a fishing expedition. "The wording of subsection 231.2(1) is very broad; it enables the minister to require 'any person' to provide 'any information'," he wrote. "The only constraint is that the request must be made 'for any purpose related to the administration or enforcement of the Act'."

But eBay Canada lawyers said the government had failed to show sufficient evidence that the tax agency was carrying out a "genuine and serious inquiry" into power sellers, as a previous court ruling had required. Hughes reserved judgment on that part of the case, pending a later hearing.

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The above was an official report as of Sept 27th 2007

We all have heard how "when a deal sounds too good to be true; it PROBABLY is!"  The reason for this buying guide is because of some concerns I have been seeing again on ebay recently. In light of the numerous Apple iPhone scams that are out on eBay currently; we have written our "Fake Apple iPhone review" so that we can actively educate our customers and other eBayers. These scams have been reeking havoc and have been causing eBayers to not trust other honest eBay sellers. So that's why we are here to write a guide to minimize being scammed!

Before buying from a seller; you should :
1. check the feedbacks which the seller have received.
           *if the seller have 10 negative feedbacks in the last two days that should be a "red flag" not to buy.
2. make sure you review as to where these feedbacks are given by even if the seller has positive feedbacks
           *if the 10 positive feedback are given by questionable buyers from a questionable country; once again
             be cautious!
3. check what other items were sold from the seller.
           *if the seller have listed only one expensive item or have been selling hockey cards for the last while but
            starts selling expensive products then caution should be taken.
4. make sure that PayPal is offered and use PayPal!!
            *if the seller does not send you the product or the product is not as described then eBay/PayPal will be
              able to credit you back the full amount. If you don't pay through PayPal then you buy at your own risk!
5. ensure when you are communicating with the seller within eBay!
           *this can not be overlooked: if you communicate via eBay then you can ensure that you are communicating to
             the real seller; however if you email outside of eBay then a buyer runs the risk of dealing with a person who
            has 'hacked' or 'overtaken' the account.

These are the basic but top ways to ensure yourself from being a victim of fraud.

Also, if you find this Guide useful to you please take two seconds to comment on this article; especially if you have additional suggestions that will help out other eBayers. commenteThe more this gets commented on the more others will be helped in avoiding from being a victim of FRAUD! Please help.

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Thank you for reading.

A SIMPLE GUIDE TO SHOW WHETHER YOU ARE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR SHIPPING

I have been a seller on ebay for awhile and have seen many sellers charging ridiculous shipping and handling fees!
They have created a bad taste to some ebayers so this is why I have written this BUYING GUIDE in AVOIDING
EXCESSIVE HANDLING & SHIPPING CHARGES. Some sellers lure buyers in with their low prices much like the following:

First they list the item: $ 0.99 BIN (BUY IT NOW)
Then they charge:         $30.99 for Shipping

And when you ask these sellers why they are charging that amount they try to tell you the following:
1. They have to pay for staffs or for their time and effort in fulfilling that order
2. They have to pay for the shipping materials and packaging materials.
3. They have to pay for the time to test the products before shipping.
4. They have to pay for the ebay fees and paypal fees.
5. or its because that is the cost of shipping the item over!

The act of charging excess fee can be called "CIRCUMVENTION OF EBAY FEES" and you can notify ebay
about that particular product or seller. Ebay will then find their staff to check out that listing and ebay will
address the seller about this issue.

There are a number of ways to see if the sellers are actually charging fairly. 
You should ask the sellers or yourself these questions before bidding or buying:
Question 1. Does the item come with a "tracking number"?
                   Reason: Shipping an item cost more when the item is traceable. Tracking number allows seller/buyer to find out
                                 where the item is at any moment; whether it's delay in customs; still enroute; or delivered to the wrong address.
                                 If the seller is offering to ship via FEDEX/UPS/Purolator etc..then it's expected if they charge more
                   NOTE:    However don't expect someone to give you a tracking number when they only charge you $10 or less because courier
                                 company usually charge more then $10 before providing tracking!

Question 2. Is this an expedited (RUSH) shipping ? How long will this item take to ship to your address?
                   Reason: If an item is shipped within 3 days then the cost will definately be more then an item that is shipped with a 
                                gurantee time of 10 days. 
                   NOTE:   Keep in mind that NO courier company or ebay sellers will be able to ship an tiem to you within 3 DAYS 
                                with a tracking number and especially with you not being in the same State or province! 

Question 4. How bulky or heavy is the product being shipped?
                   Reason: If the item is oddly shaped or bulky then shipping is definately going to be more expensive because of the packaging.
                                 For example; if a buyer purchaed a "inflated balloon" and the cost is only $0.50; the shipping is going to be way more
                                 just because of the volume this item takes up during shipping. Another example; if a buyer purchased a "bowling ball"
                                 for $20; the shipping cost of this item will still cost a lot more because of the weight factor even though the size is small!

The previous are just a few examples of questions and hopefully it brings forth a good experience to both buyers and sellers.
If you have any further questions/comments that will help make other Ebayers please don't hesitate to email to us and we will add to our guide.

Please visit www.thegadgetlink.com/blog to view more guides and reviews which we have written.

Thank you.

Current Apple iPhone SCAM on eBay

I will be short and to the point with regard to this scam. I had a friend that actually bought one of these SCAM and got a chance to really look at it. So i can tell you from first hand experience!!!

Currently there are sellers out of Beijing, China and some that have created accounts to show that they are stationed in The USA and are selling the Apple iPhone for much less than what they cost in the USA.

What you will see below is an official picture of what Apple and Cingular or the New AT&T had revealed as the activation price for the phone.



It is a scam, plain and simple.

There are several reasons why this is clearly a scam:

1) Sellers states that the phone is UNLOCKED (1st warning sign)
***Apple have a contract with Cingular/AT&T and are not planning to sell these to Asian Markets and thus will not have any UNLOCKED versions

2) Sellers attached photo of their "fake Apple iPhone" (2nd warning sing)
***Apple and other ebayer who have the REAL iPhones are packaged in a "rectangle box" alike below:


***Fake Apple iPhone sellers have packaging alike below which is FLAT:

3) Sellers will not show the iPhone that they are selling while they are "TURNED ON" (3rd warning sign)

4) The auction description is usually short and with limited information about the product itself or does not match the specifications from APPLE!!

5) Seller's price on the phone is ridiculously inexpensive. Even less than the 2 year activation price from Cingular/AT&T

6) Lastly, you can tell the FAKE iPhone by its backing and the screen. The REAL Apple iPhone has a Silver aluminum backing as shown below:
 
But the FAKE one has a plastic black backing. And if you are the unfortunate buyer of one of these CHINA imitations you will quickly realize that you can't even operate the screen because it's "NOT EVEN TOUCH-SCREEN!!!"

Bottom line is if you come across the APPLE iPhone from an International, and in particular, Chinese seller located in Beijing, or have a listing that looks similar to what was presented above........... do not give this person your money.


If you found this guide the least bit helpful, please take just 2 seconds to click the "comment" button.
The more people that click that button, the more chance other people will get to see this warning as well.

Thank you.
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